Novartis launches Lucentis PFS in Germany

In October 2013, the company has received approval from the European authorities for Lucentis PFS, which is a new way of administering Lucentis that is specifically designed for intraocular injection to enhance patient safety and convenience for the treating clinician.

Novartis Pharmaceuticals division head David Epstein said the company is happy to be able to offer a better way to accurately and safely administer Lucentis in the eye.

"Lucentis PFS brings convenience, safety, and the potential for improved efficiency and dose accuracy to both retinal specialists and patients," Epstein said.

The product has been specifically designed to reduce the risk of adverse events to patients and to improve the treatment process in the clinic.

The new injection technology provides the potential for improved safety for patients through a reduction in non-sterile preparatory steps and the inclusion of more safety features, such as a non-retractable plunger.

In addition, greater dose accuracy is possible through design features such as a smaller syringe barrel.

Lucentis, which is jointly developed by Genentech and Novartis, is licensed in over 100 countries, for the treatment of wet age-related macular degeneration (wet AMD), visual impairment due to diabetic macular edema (DME) and for visual impairment due to macular edema secondary to retinal vein occlusion (RVO), including both branch- and central-RVO.

Additionally, Lucentis is also licensed in 50 countries for the treatment of patients with visual impairment due to choroidal neovascularization (CNV) secondary to pathologic myopia (myopic CNV).

Genentech has the commercial rights to Lucentis in the US, while Novartis has exclusive rights of the product in the rest of the world.